Translated by Al-Ahed News

Full speech of Hezbollah Secretary-General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at a ceremony marking seven years since the martyrdom of the great jihadi leader Sayyed Mustafa Badreddine | 12-5-2023

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Master and Prophet, the Seal of Prophets, Abi al-Qassem Muhammad Bin Abdullah, and his good and pure household and his good and chosen companions and all the prophets and messengers.
 
Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you all. 

God Almighty says in His Glorious Book:

{In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient. And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah, "They are dead." Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not. God has spoken the truth.}

First, I welcome all of you, my brothers and sisters, on this precious anniversary of our beloved martyred leader Sayyed Mustafa Badreddine. 

In the beginning, I renew my congratulations and condolences as usual. On the anniversary of his passing, we congratulate the members of his honorable family on his martyrdom and offer our condolences for the loss of their loved one.

I also congratulate all of you and offer our condolences because he was your brother, your loved one, your dear one, your comrade-in-arms, and your path.

Before I start with my address, it is also my duty to extend my congratulations and condolences to our proud, mujahid, oppressed, steadfast, and courageous Palestinian people, to the leaders and mujahideen of the resistance factions, and especially to my brothers and sisters in the Islamic Jihad Movement, leadership, cadres, mujahideen, and supporters. 

I condole them all for the loss of the martyrs, especially the leaders who were martyred in the past few days, along with their wives, sons, and daughters. Entire families received this great honor.

I once again extend our condolences to them for the martyrdom of the brother leader, Sheikh Khader Adnan (may God have mercy on him).

I ask God Almighty to grant all martyrs forgiveness, mercy, contentment, Paradise, and high ranks.
I ask God Almighty for a speedy recovery for all the wounded.
I ask God Almighty to grant the mujahideen perseverance, firmness, and success in taking the shot.

I ask God Almighty to grant the for the incubating environment of the resistance in Gaza patience and tranquility. And I ask God to grant them victory in this battle that they are waging in defense of blood, honor, dignity, and sanctities, and on behalf of the entire Ummah. We will return to this subject, God willing, shortly.

Returning to the occasion, in the past few years and at the beginning of the address, I used to talk about many of the personal qualities and characteristics of the martyred leader Sayyed Zulfiqar (may God have mercy on him) and about the achievements and the tasks and responsibilities that he assumed.

Today, however, I would like to add some titles, and from them I will enter into the events of these days:

The first title: The martyred leader Sayyed Zulfiqar obtained all honorable medals that a Mujahid could obtain. These are divine honors and require divine support.

1- The honor of being a fighter, who is present in the field, fighting along the frontline, carrying his rifle in his hand. This was what Sayyed Mustafa succeeded to attain in in his youth. One of the battles he fought in along the frontline was the Battle of Khaldeh.

Hence, the honor of being a fighter fighting along the frontline.

2- The honor of being a wounded. When resistance fighters get wounded, some of their wounds heal. Yet, other wounds remain in the body for the rest of life. 

Sayyed Zulfiqar was seriously wounded in the Battle of Khaldeh, and traces of these wounds remained on his body. We all know that the injury in his leg affected his natural gait.

Hence, the honor of being a wounded fighter.

3- The honor of being a captive, a prisoner in solitary confinement and behind bars.

4- After freedom, he was given the honor of leadership. It is an honor for a person to assume the tasks and responsibilities of being a leader of the Mujahideen on various fronts and arenas.

5- The honor of making achievements and victories, which we talked about in the past – be it in the military field in Lebanon or the security field in Syria, when he assumed leadership of our Mujahideen there.

6- Finally, the honor of martyrdom, which is the highest honor.

These honors and divine medals need, as I said, require divine support. They are among God’s bestowals to this martyred leader.

The second title: We refer to his qualities, including awareness as well and deep and broad understanding or what we also call insight, and the strategic mind. Praise be to God Almighty, many of our leaders, officials, and cadres possess these qualities.

We’ve seen this closely in the martyred leaders and those who still bear responsibilities.

When a person looks at events, how does he view them?

There are afflictions, in the Lebanese arena, for example, at the level of some political leaders. This problem has negative and bad effects on our society, on our country, on our future, and on the future of Lebanon and the people of Lebanon.

Some people are afflicted with narrow-mindedness, narrow calculations, separation from reality, denial of facts and external developments. There is no need for me to give examples to not these expose people, but I believe that when I speak, examples will come to your mind, even recent ones.

This is a problem. Basically, when dealing with events in Lebanon, developments in Lebanon, and the future of Lebanon, you cannot isolate Lebanon from the region and the developments in it. This is where some in Lebanon disagree with us – Hezbollah’s regional concerns.

First of all, is it possible for one to approach the events in Lebanon by isolating them from the events in the region?

Yes, there are partial and isolated incidents taking place in Lebanon that are not related to events in the region. However, important issues, events, and developments are often affected by events in the region. Is it possible to approach developments and events in the region by isolating them from developments and events in the world?

Not at all. The regional situation is strongly affected by the international situation and developments; the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the American conflict with Russia, the negative competition between America and China, all these have repercussions on our region, and therefore, on Lebanon.

One must approach the facts with sincerity. He must not deny them or run away from them. He must not dwell in his dreams and aspirations, imagine that the reality is what he loves and not what it is, or connect events to each other and benefit from these events to serve honorable goals be them at the level of the homeland or at the level of the Ummah.

This problem is the one that repeats mistakes in Lebanon and elsewhere. In other words, it is the loss of a deep and broad understanding, the loss of a strategic mind. I will give a few brief examples.

One example is 1982 considering it the year of Sayyed Zulfiqar and the resistance. Later, we will move to Palestine and Syria and then return to Lebanon.

There are those who believed that “Israel” would remain in Lebanon and that Lebanon has entered the “Israeli” era for decades and hundreds of years and would not exit it. Based on this understanding, they made bets and choices that quickly turned out to be wrong. 

Within three years, “Israel” withdrew from the mountains, the suburbs, the western Bekaa, Sidon, Tyre, and Nabatiyeh to the well-known security belt in 1985.

In 2000, "Israel" completely left, with the exception of the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba hills, and the Lebanese part of the town of Ghajar.

All their calculations, bets, plans, mobilization, rhetoric, culture, and psychological makeup collapsed because they were built on wrong calculations, and the wrong calculations were built on a wrong understanding.

There is no need for me to repeat the examples. I will just refer to the headlines. The same thing happened in Syria. I am talking in terms of countries, governments, and political forces in Lebanon and the region. But I am talking more about Lebanon. With regard to the developments in Syria, they understood wrong and made wrong estimates, bets, and choices. And the result was what it is now.

Therefore, it is very natural that the discourse changed, the literature changed, and the position changed. We will see this in a bit when we talk about the file of the displaced. The entire first position of some was based on wrong calculations.

How do some approach the crisis in Syria, Iran, Yemen, and Palestine? In any way, this is a fundamental problem.

I claim that martyred leader Sayyed Zulfiqar and his brothers were able to choose the right options, the right methods, the right goals, and the right fields, and thus they accomplished these achievements. These include martyr Sayyed Abbas, martyr Hajj Imad, martyr Sheikh Ragheb as well as other martyred leaders and those who remained alive.

The third title: The final title is the slogan of our celebration: "One Banner Until Victory".

Among the titles of unity of stance is unity of battle, unity of confrontation. If we want to search for symbols for this battle, one of these symbols is martyred leader Sayyed Mustafa Badreddine.

Also, among the very big symbols of these titles, i.e, unity of the battle, unity of stance, unity of the project, unity of confrontation, unity of the axis is martyred commander Hajj Qassem Soleimani, the companion of all our martyrs from Sayyed Mustafa to Hajj Imad to the leaders who were martyred in Syria, in Lebanon, in Palestine, etc.

Each of us plays his role within the framework of the unity of the axis, the unity of the battle, the unity of the project, and the integration of roles, from his position and his capabilities.

Why do I say that Sayyed Zulfiqar is one of the titles of this unity and banner? Because he was present in Lebanon, in Lebanon's battle with the occupation, in Palestine’s battle, in Syria’s battle, and in Iraq’s battle – basically in most of the fields of this confrontation and battle.

From here, I delve into some of these arenas:

First: We will talk about Gaza and Palestine and the ongoing battle.

Of course, we all know that the one who started this round of aggression is the enemy, Netanyahu. The “Israelis” are always in the position of the aggressor, but sometimes they claim to be in a state of reaction.

Basically, “Israel’s” very existence is an aggression on the land of Palestine, on Al-Quds, on the Golan, on the Shebaa Farms. The very existence of this cancerous usurping entity and absolute evil is an attack on the Palestinians, the Lebanese, the Syrians, the peoples of the region, the Arabs, Muslims, Christians, and all the honorable people of the world.

But when we come to the details, we ask who started the aggression? Netanyahu started it with the assassination of the martyred leaders of the Islamic Jihad Movement in the Al-Quds Brigades. Of course, the media shed the spotlight on the martyred leaders and military commanders. Three military commanders as well as seven women and children were martyred. The world turned a blind eye to the crime.

It is understandable for military personnel to be killed when they are fighting. However, for a person to be killed along with his wife and children is not new to the “Israelis”. But what is unfortunate is the silence of the world. 

In the past, our martyred leader Sayyed Abbas was killed along with his wife and son Hussein. Leaders in Palestine were killed along with their wives and children in the past. What is unfortunate, however, is that this global silence continues. The United States of America even worked in the Security Council to prevent the issuing of a statement condemning “Israel” for killing women and children in Gaza.

I want to talk a little about this battle. Netanyahu's motives are clear:

1- Restoring deterrence after the “Israeli” consensus on the erosion of deterrence on all fronts: Recently, everyone in the entity, including current and former generals, politicians, media professionals, even the “Israeli” minister of war, and the Chief of Staff of the “Israeli” army, all admitted it, with some using the phrases "declining deterrence," "weakness," and "erosion." He [Netanyahu] wants to restore deterrence, as he declared.

2- Escaping from the internal impasse: The hundreds of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets, maybe two or three times a week, and the internal division that threatens the entity, as all the people of the entity say.

3- Addressing the disintegration of his government coalition with the most extremist parties, such as Ben-Gvir and others.

4- Improving his internal popular status: All opinion polls said that he and the Likud are in a state of decline. To improve their political and electoral situation, these people have no problem doing so at the expense of the blood of the innocent, the oppressed, the women, and children.

These motives are clear. Of course, we are talking about the motives so that we can assess the battle.

Second: Netanyahu's game and his calculations were also a failure and wrong. What did he do?

They decided to focus on the Islamic Jihad and the al-Quds Brigades. Let us single out the Islamic Jihad and neutralize Hamas and the rest of the factions. And when we single out the Islamic Jihad and neutralize the rest of the factions, we will tear the resistance factions apart and cause discord in the environment of the resistance in Gaza.

This is because if the Islamic Jihad reacted alone and the rest of the factions remained neutral, this would open the door to controversy, objection, treachery, and strife within the Palestinian interior. This is what Netanyahu and his people were thinking.

- Striking the leadership structure of the Al-Quds Brigades and dismantling the direct leadership of the missile capabilities so that the Islamic Jihad does not have the ability to react because the natural reaction available is the missile capabilities.

You know that the surroundings of the Gaza Strip are surrounded by walls, barbed wire, procedures, artificial hills, cameras, and radars. Carrying out ground action is neither easy nor possible soon. Usually, the resistance factions in Gaza resort to missile action when the command structure of the missile capability of the Islamic Jihad is targeted. Hence, the Jihad will not be able to do anything. 

He [Netanyahu] assumed this while the rest of the factions were neutralized, as he believed that he would have achieved a very great military achievement.

He thought that when the Jihad suffers these losses while it is making these sacrifices will be unable to make an appropriate reaction, its political leadership will become weak, and it will accept the first offer of a cease-fire.

Netanyahu believed this this is how he eliminates the military leadership of the Islamic Jihad, weakens the position of its political leadership, and restores deterrence with Gaza.

While the confrontation was ongoing in Gaza, some were saying that these are messages to Hezbollah in Lebanon. He was also sending messages to all fronts. He also resorted to the policy of assassinations in order to thwart the rise of the Palestinian resistance in its current, promising, and strong stage.

He thought, planned, estimated, and reached this conclusion.

However, we must note the following:

1-    The wise and calm behavior of the leadership of the Islamic Jihad. They did not start firing rockets as soon as martyrs fell before sunrise, for example.

No, they were calm and practiced restrained. They thought well and initiated contact with the rest of the factions, especially with the brothers in the leadership of Hamas, with the leadership of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades inside, and the rest of the factions so that the Palestinian political and military position in Gaza and outside Gaza was unified in the face of the “Israeli” treacherous plan.

Praise be to God, there was a consensus among the leaders of the Palestinian factions, especially among the brothers in Hamas and Jihad, on the need for unity of position, cooperation, and complementarity in roles, as well as on the importance of responding and not allowing Netanyahu to achieve any of his goals.

That is why the field administration and the real title of the resistance’s reaction became the joint room for the operations of the resistance factions in Gaza. Of course, the enemy was anticipating two or three missiles to be launched out of Gaza and that’s it.

When the leadership of the Palestinian factions resorted to calm, the “Israeli” government seemed as if it was telling the Palestinian resistance to ‘hurry up and launch some missiles’ at settlements and cities, and let us get it over with.

Of course, the “Israelis” have recently adopted this method. Do you remember when they stood on a foot and a half on the Lebanese borders for about a month and a half or two? In the end, they put dummies dressed in military uniforms inside the vehicles to tell us, “This is a soldier, kill him, and consider that you have achieved your objective.”

Hence, the unity of position thwarted sedition and neutralizing Hamas and the factions. Of course, the brothers are managing the battle accurately, wisely, calmly, and by distributing roles that serve the battle in the Gaza Strip and prevent the enemy from achieving any of its goals.

2-    The ability of the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Quds Brigades to quickly restore their leadership structure. Even though these leaders were martyred, but the gaps were repaired, and the evidence is the amount of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, which were mostly carried out by the Al-Quds Brigades, based on the distributed tasks.

Of course, there is an important message that I would like to stress on. One of the strengths of the resistance movements in the region today is that the resistance factions have a high ability to repair the repercussions of any attack on their general or political leadership. This is what the enemy and our friends must trust. The enemy must understand it in order to despair, and our friends must trust it so they do not lose hope.

The Islamic Jihad Movement’s Secretary General Dr. Fathi was martyred. After that, its Secretary General, Dr. Ramadan, passed away. Many of its jihadist leaders and cadres were martyred in the past period, but it was always able to rebuild.

The Hamas Movement lost its founder, the late martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, many of its secretary generals, many of its jihadist leaders with their families, wives, and children.

The Popular Front, for example, had its Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa and many cadres martyred, and its Secretary General Ahmed Saadat was imprisoned and still is. The same goes when we talk about the rest of the factions.

Many of the leaders of the resistance in Lebanon were martyred. Take Sayyed Mustafa Badreddine and our dear brothers Sayyed Abbas, Hajj Imad, and others for example. But the resistance movements did not retreat and weaken nor did their unity, firmness, strength, or will.

On the contrary, this pure blood always gave impetus to go forward. When the responsibility is greater, presence in the battle and the trust become greater because what is being entrusted were the pure blood and precious sacrifices.

In any case, the rapid recovery of the leadership also surprised the “Israelis”. He was betting that he will come out and tell them that I eliminated the leadership of the Jihad and put an end to the firing of rockets. He was surprised by these large numbers [of missiles].

The firing of rockets and taking turns (it is not once or twice, not an hour or two, not ten or twenty, not one hundred or two hundred). Within four days, the “Israelis” are talking about nearly 900 rockets, some of which reached south Tel Aviv. Today, some reached Al-Quds.

At a time when it was assumed that they could do nothing, there was internal field and political coordination and understanding. The fighters were steadfastness despite the heavy and violent raids. They displayed wonderful performance. The incubating environment in Gaza, the people of Gaza, including the elders and the young expressed their embrace of this resistance. you can that clearly on social media and media outlets.

The political leadership of the resistance factions was also steadfast in front of the mounting pressure because from the first hours after he was killed, he said that he was ready for a cease-fire. Arab and international calls began to reach a cease-fire.

The martyrs included women and children. The equation of deterrence, rules of engagement, and the future of the living were hanging in the balance. 

Brothers and sisters, you must know that when the resistance is fighting in such cases, whether in Palestine, Lebanon or elsewhere, it is true that in the literature sometimes we talk about revenge. However, the essence of the situation is not revenge. The essence of the situation is protecting the rest, defending the dignity of the rest, defending their honor, their existence, their lives, their security, and their safety.

Remaining silent over the killing of the martyrs will keep the doors open for the killing of the rest. The battle here is the battle of protection, maintenance, defense, guarantee, and security. It is not a personal matter – they killed some of our, and we will take revenge.

All these factors surprised Netanyahu and his government and confused their calculations, despite the disproportionate capabilities, which is known between the enemy and the resistance. Today, the resistance in Gaza is in a strong, coherent, and steadfast position, and refuses to submit and surrender.

So far, if we want to make a quick assessment of what happened so far, we can say that the resistance in Gaza was able to thwart the enemy's goal of restoring deterrence. This is a failure.

The enemy cannot come out and say that it has restored deterrence. It is true that you killed true leaders as well as women and children, but today you are paying the price around Gaza, in Ashkelon, in Beersheba, in the south of occupied Palestine, in the central region all the way to Tel Aviv and Al-Quds.

And now people are starting to speak up. You said the matter is easy and we can eliminate them. People are now demanding the need to stop this operation.

Hence, he cannot come out and say that he has restored deterrence while the operation and the aggression on Gaza is still ongoing and has not stopped and the continuation of political pressure on the leadership of the resistance.

The situation in the field and in politics are piling pressure, but the resistance in both fields is steadfast because it refuses to stop the battle except with certain conditions or a certain vision.

What happened so far is that the enemy understood very well that any future assassination of any Mujahid or any leader in the Gaza Strip will not stand but will lead to a broad confrontation similar to the one that just happened now.

Netanyahu cannot say to the people, ‘We have restored deterrence, and now we can do whatever we want and kill whoever we want any time we want, without being punished, and we will remain safe.’

Yes, he can say that we killed some leaders, women, and children, and this is easy. But he did not achieve any of the goals that he promised the “Israelis”.

Yes, he can lie to them as usual. Yesterday, an “Israeli” journalist on one of the TV channels conducted an inventory for Netanyahu. It can be summarized as follows:

Following all the battles that took place in Gaza during his premiership of the enemy government, he would always come out and say that we have completely eliminated the leadership of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades whenever he wanted to end a battle. Then, the group comes out, thank God, and are still present and victorious.

We have completely eliminated Hamas; we have completely eliminated the Al-Quds Brigades; and we have completely eliminated Islamic Jihad. It turns out that these movements are increasing in strength, presence, leadership, and effectiveness.

We have changed the equation. It turns out that nothing has changed from the equations. The “Israelis” are demanding from him. He can go out again and lie to them, as he lied to them in the past.

The result so far is thanks to the unity between the factions. We must all express to them our appreciation, glorification, and gratitude for shouldering this responsibility, for their unity, for their cohesion, for their cooperation, and for their wise management of the battle.

It is thanks to the jihad and steadfastness of the fighters in the field who continue to fire rockets. And you know that Gaza is an open area for drones and planes are always ready. The risks are very great. Despite these risks, they continue to work. It is also thanks to the great popular embrace.

Everyone should follow the events taking place in Gaza because this is an important battle. Its effects are not only on Gaza, but on all of Palestine, on the West Bank, on Lebanon, on the region.

For our part, we are in constant communication with the faction leaders. We are monitoring the situation and the development minute by minute through our brothers. We are also offering possible assistance to a certain degree.

However, I would like to add that at any time responsibility is imposed on us, we must take any step or steps. We will not hesitate, God willing.

In any case, we are all observing and following developments and events, and everyone must bear responsibility and act responsibly.

I turn to the Syrian arena and then conclude with the Lebanese arena.

Syria:

1- In recent years, the Syrian arena was the arena of jihad for our brother martyred leader Sayyed Mustafa. It was also the arena of his martyrdom. I will not repeat what I said on Quds Day – the developments and the conspiracy and what we did. I will talk about the latter, which includes:

• 1-    The restoration of relations with many Arab countries. Some of these countries had been hostile towards Syria and formed operations rooms on their territories, paid money, and led the global war against Syria.
• 2-    The decision to bring Syria back into the Arab League.
• 3-    Inviting Mr. President Bashar al-Assad to attend the Arab summit in Riyadh in a few days. This is an important development on the Arab level with Syria.

Now, I do not want to delve into the discussion of whether Syria returned into the Arab fold or whether the Arabs returned to Syria’s embrace. There is no need to talk about the Arab fold right now. However, I can say that Syria remained in its place and did not change its position, strategy, or axis. This is clear.

This is backed by the second matter. Hence, the first title is the Arab affair.

2- The second title is the visit of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence Ayatollah Sayyid Raisi, to Syria after 12 years. 11 years of crisis, the President of the Islamic Republic comes to Syria. You all kept pace with the program and the meetings and the emphasis (this is important) on strategic Iranian–Syrian relations in the political, military, security, and economic levels, and the signing of agreements, etc.

Why am I referring to this topic? Because over all the past years and amid the global war against Syria, one of the things Syria was offered in exchange for changing some Arab positions towards it was to sever its relations with Iran and alter its relations and regional alliances.

However, it is not the case. Arab relations are returning, Syria is returning to the Arab League, and President Assad is being invited to the Arab Summit. All the while, Sayyid Raisi is visiting Syria, with the two sides confirming the depth of the strategic relations between them, signing agreements, and confirming this alliance. This is an important matter.

3- The third title is Turkey. This means that the Turks are the ones stressing on the meeting of the defense ministers of the four countries, Russia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Turkey is stressin on the meeting of security chiefs and the meeting of the assistant foreign ministers. The meeting of foreign ministers came at the insistent request of Turkey.

Brothers and sisters, do you know where things are now?

Today, Syria is a player in the Turkish elections. Today, the competitors in Turkey are competing to present options that seem to be acceptable to the Turkish people. Otherwise, why are they talking about them in the elections. These options include mending things with Syria politically, returning the displaced Syrians to Syria, etc.

Today, Syria is the one that won. It is strongly present in the Turkish elections. These are all important developments on the political, Arab, international, and regional level.

Of course, we support every positive development of this kind because sometimes, for example, when some delegations come to Damascus, we do not issue statements. Many Lebanese political forces issued statements and welcomed the move.

When the decision was made to bring Syria back to the Arab League or when President Assad was invited to the Arab summit yesterday, we did not issue a statement. Do you know why? Because it is us who should be congratulated and not extending congratulations. 

In every positive development in Syria and in every political, moral, or military victory in Syria, we see the face of Mustafa Badreddine. We see in them the face of our martyred leaders and the large number of our martyrs; we see in them our wounded; we see in them the hard work of our mujahideen; we see in them our estrangement and oppression in the first years after we made this choice. The whole world attacked us.

Therefore, with every recovery in Syria, with every progress, with every development, we are among those who must be congratulated and not those who have to issue statements of congratulations.

In any case, the only thing left to talk about here is the American disappointment. It is clear that the Americans are annoyed. They are sending messages of annoyance to the Arab countries. Now, how much this will affect the normalization of relations will be clear with time. They are also insisting on the implementation of the Caesar Act as well as sanctions and a blockade on Syria. 

Allow me to say something I’ve been holding in for a long time. America considers itself to be the first superpower in the world and distributes billions of dollars to the world, but it steals oil and gas from the east of the Euphrates openly.

America, the superpower in the world, is stealing Syrian oil and gas from the east of the Euphrates, with what? With trucks. They fill the trucks and take them from Syria to Iraq. What pettiness! I just wanted to say this.

There is an insistence on plundering oil and gas; there is an insistence on the blockade, on the implementation of the Caesar Act, and on sanctions. This is because it has become clear to the Americans that through the war, they will not be able to impose anything on the leadership in Syria. In addition, the Arab and the regional situations are changing. So, they are still betting on sanctions.

Of course, all these positive developments took place thanks to the steadfastness of the Syrian leadership, the Syrian army, and the Syrian people.

And now in front of the harsh and difficult remaining ordeal, I tell them to trust God Almighty and be patient. {Seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.} And relief is near. Things, God willing, are heading toward relief, and they will not return to the bad days and years that have passed.

There is something related to the outcome of the developments in Syria and our responsibility as Lebanese. 

1-    Lebanon is required to restore normal relations with Syria. Now, there are people in Lebanon – those that I spoke about at the beginning – who are separated from reality. Should Lebanon remain a prisoner because there are people who are separated from reality? There are people who deny the facts, what should we do in that case? Today, what is the caretaker government waiting for?

They always say that Hezbollah controls the decisions of the Lebanese institutions or the Lebanese state. This is one of the evidences that it’s not.

If Hezbollah was controlling the decisions of the Lebanese governments, the Lebanese government would have formed a delegation a long time ago and had gone to Damascus and started negotiations. We’ve been raising our voice and advising in the internal sessions, in bilateral meetings and on podiums for this. But it has only fallen on deaf ears.

Well, in the past we used to say we are afraid of Egypt, of Saudi Arabia, of the Emirates, of the Arab position, or of the Gulf countries. Now, who are you afraid of? Really? Take the file of the displaced Syrians, for example. I will come back to it later. This file put the country last week on the verge of sedition, and in the end, it turns out that the issue was for the acting director general of public security to go to Syria.

Hence, the Lebanese government is required to go and establish normal political relations with Syria. And yes, this is the responsibility of the caretaker government. This is a duty and a necessity. This opens many doors to solve urgent problems that exist in Lebanon, and there is no longer an argument at all. All the Arabs met, sat, and accepted each other. Go before President Assad goes to the summit in Riyadh. It is the best for you.

This is in the interest of Lebanon. So far, I have told that you have made miscalculations, but I didn’t bring up the past – what your discourse was, what you did, how you conspired. We skipped the past because Lebanon’s history is like this.

We are the children of the moment. At the present moment, Lebanon's definite political, economic, social, and security interests lie in naturally rearranging relations with Syria.

Today, the Arab countries will open all borders with Syria; trade and economic exchange will improve. Meanwhile, we are sitting here. Go and solve the transit issue, solve the issue of fees and taxes for trucks that transport Lebanese products. They are sitting and waiting for what I don’t know.

In fact, I am one of the people, a Lebanese like you, who does not understand what they are waiting for. There is no argument for anyone to say that you are right and you should wait and be patient. What are you lingering on? This is one.

2-    The issue of the displaced Syrians, which was a serious file. In the past two weeks as you have seen, people were going to take up arms against each other.

This issue, my brothers and sisters, and the Lebanese people, is not addressed using social media, issuing statements, or delivering addresses.

On the contrary, by doing so, it will lead to violence, strife, turmoil, enmity, and grudges against a people who are our historic neighbors. They are our neighbors and will remain so.

Speaking from a humane, moral, and patriotic viewpoint, this matter cannot be addressed in this way – with insults, incitement, and attacks on each other. This will not solve the problem. Blaming each other will not address anything.

Sometimes, it is useful to shed light on those who made wrong bets and changing stances. If the stance at the beginning had a humanitarian background, and it is still the same, why change the stance now?

The change in the position of some political forces regarding the displaced Syrians now confirms that their first position had a political background and not a humanitarian one, as they claimed.

In any case, to address this file, the Lebanese government must form a ministerial delegation comprising a number of ministers as well as the General Security. They can include in the delegation the State Security, the Lebanese army, the security forces, and whoever you want. Then, this delegation heads to Syria and engage in negotiations with Syrian officials over the span of a few days. They have a serious discussion and not a general talk with slogans and broad headlines. They set a program and mention the problems and how to solve them and how we can work together to solve the problems. 

This is how the file of the displaced is addressed. Other than that, it is just talk, wailing, screaming, strife, and grudges. If this step is not taken, it means that someone does not want the file to be solved.

The main condition for this is that there must be a sovereign decision. What does a sovereign decision mean? It means not succumbing to external pressures. There are foreign countries that are imposing on Lebanon that the displaced Syrians remain. We are forbidden from reaching an understanding with our brothers in Syria. We are forbidden from drawing up a program and a road map. They must stay, otherwise it will be a disaster.

The responsible thing to do here is for a person to be brave, sovereign, free, and not submit to foreigners. He should be looking out for the interest of his country and people. 

There is one part that I want to comment on. Some people are saying, for example, that Hezbollah is occupying villages and houses and preventing people from returning in al-Qusayr and in Homs. This is a lie. We do not occupy homes, villages, or anything. You can go and send the media. Check these villages. This is not true.

Even our brothers who are there as a military force in the area are present in a small number. Everyone knows, and the residents of the area know that we do not live in a house unless we are renting it, or with the consent of its owner, or if it is owned by the state with the permission of the state.

Our brothers know that at the jurisprudential level, praying in a usurped house is forbidden and unacceptable. Our prayers will not be accepted if they were performed in these houses.

We don't occupy houses and villages, and they can go and make sure of that. But these are all allegations. Hezbollah was the most enthusiastic party and made efforts to make it possible for the residents of al-Qusayr and its surrounding to return home.

It is also known who was preventing the displaced Syrians from returning. The foreign countries are the ones preventing them from returning, through intimidation, enticement, and temptation. This is with regard to the file of the displaced Syrians.

3-    There is another Lebanese-Syrian file that concerns us. Any incident that happens, Hezbollah is then accused of smuggling drugs and Captagon and that Hezbollah gets billions of dollars from the Captagon trade.

A few days ago, it was said that the Jordanian Air Force hit a target along Syria’s border area, killing one person who was allegedly a drug dealer. It was said that a Captagon kitchen was destroyed, and that the person killed was Hezbollah’s number one man in Syria.

This is a lie, unfairness, betrayal, conspiracy, lack of morals, and lack of manners. Say whatever you want about them. Are we Captagon smugglers? What I'm going to say now, I haven't said before.

In many areas, had it not been for Hezbollah, the Lebanese state would not have been able to carry out what it is doing now in terms of dismantling the Captagon factories and confronting the many hotbeds and drug gangs in Lebanon. And we are the ones they accuse.

Some drug dealers tell us that we bear the responsibility because the issue was mentioned a lot during the past few days. It is clear that there is an attack by the Arab, Gulf, and foreign media. Yet, I would like to repeat and say that these are baseless lies.

For us, Captagon or drugs are among the titles of corruption in the land. They are forbidden. Buying, selling, possessing, drinking, and dealing them are considered among the major sins, etc. Our religious, moral, and human stance towards it is clear and decisive, and we have spoken about this a lot.

Even at one point, there was a suspicion. One of our goals is delivering weapons to the resistance inside occupied Palestine, whether from the Lebanese border or from the borders of other countries, the surrounding countries.

The question was: is it possible to seek help from some smugglers, some of whom smuggle drugs, to smuggle weapons? Our religious, jihadist, and political position was that it was absolutely forbidden. Even though we are not smuggling drugs but only weapons, yet the question was who will smuggle the weapons for us? If it was a drug smuggler, then we do not accept.

God cannot be obeyed by disobeying Him. We do not accept that the honorable weapon of the resistance be defiled with the filth of drugs, even if that prevents the arrival of weapons. This is our position, our behavior, and our performance.

I will conclude with one last point regarding this topic. This is what the Gulf countries are marketing today. They say that this is their problem with Lebanon. Hence, they should exactly find out who they have a problem with in Lebanon. It is surely not with Hezbollah then. Go and find out who is smuggling drugs and Captagon from Lebanon to the Gulf countries.

The Lebanese state arrests them and reveals their initials. Say who they are and to whom they belong. What is the problem? Expose them so people can see whether we are involved or not. On the other hand, the buyer is in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Emirates, and Qatar, and elsewhere. Where is this buyer? Are these contrabands randomly going there without a buyer? Isn’t there a buyer? Who is the buyer?

Not once has it been said who the other party or the buyer was in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Gulf. Who is it? In Jordan, who is it?

Tell us who it is so that we know. Tell us from which group they belong to; who buys Captagon from Lebanon and deals drugs in Lebanon through the liquidity they provide. They should be punished whoever they are. Everyone knows that our position is decisive and definite. 

Lebanon:

I will say a few words regarding the developments in Lebanon. The recent developments are positive and good, and things are progressing and improving from our point of view. For others, things are getting worse and options are narrowing. In any case, I would like to mention two points regarding the presidency.

A- The presidency:

1-    We chose our candidate, as we said, a natural candidate, and not a coincidental candidate. I mean, Minister Suleiman Franjieh was seriously nominated during the end of President Emile Lahoud’s term. He was so close to becoming the president of the republic.

Also, when President Michel Aoun was elected president, Minister Suleiman Franjieh was seriously nominated, and he could have been elected president of the republic. Hence, there is a natural candidate and there is a serious candidate. He was more than once close to becoming president.

Basically, when we supported this candidacy, we did not parachute anyone or bring him from outside the political reality or the Lebanese structure. This is a point.

2-    I want to emphasize on this point. We have heard a lot these days that it is an imposition – we do not accept that Hezbollah imposes a candidate on us; we do not accept that the duo imposes a candidate on us.

We are not imposing anyone. We said that this is a natural candidate and we support him, and you nominate whomever you wish, and support whomever you wish, all of you, i.e. all the Lebanese, and you make the alliances that you want. Then, let us engage in dialogue and negotiate. In the end, we go to the parliament, and whoever has the majority becomes president of the republic.

At that time, we were told that no, we will disrupt the quorum. What is the problem? This is a natural right. We used to disrupt the quorum, now you are disrupting the quorum. But the narrative that Hezbollah is imposing, where did we impose a candidate?

Let someone say that we threatened him, for example. What we are saying is that we are a representative bloc in Parliament and we have friends and allies, and it is natural that we have an opinion and that this is our candidate.

Why are there people insisting on says that a president is being imposed on us? Unless they think we are not Lebanese or Lebanese representatives that are not entitled to support a candidate for the presidency of the republic or to nominate a president.

In any case, things are now open. The doors are still open for discussion, dialogue, and meeting. Let us see what the interest is.

B- The caretaker government:

We believe that the caretaker government should continue to exercise its responsibilities despite all the difficulties. We thank the brothers in the caretaker government – the prime minister and the ministers are still present and following up.

We know that back in the day when a government resigned, the prime minister would sit in his house and say it is not his business anymore. The country would become managed by the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, and this happened several times.

Today, there is a prime minister – whether you accept or not, criticize him or not, there is no problem – and ministers who are still shouldering their responsibilities.

Based on the constitution and the law, we say that the caretaker government must continue its work, despite all the difficulties, and we are thankful that they are continuing their work.

Whether they are doing the right thing or not is related to evaluation. We do not know how far electing a president will last. Therefore, the caretaker government must continue its work.

I want to add something that might bother some people. We reviewed constitutional experts, and I said earlier that all people think, and there are jurists and scholars who read the text of the Lebanese constitution, which is not more complicated than the religious, classical, and ancient texts.

We believe that the Parliament can continue legislating normally and not only the legislating when necessary. However, there are customs that are imposed in the country. We hope that the Parliament will function normally. This does not affect the incentive to elect a president. Here, there is a suspicion on the matter.

Some people may tell you that if the parliament worked normally and the caretaker government assumed its responsibilities, there will be no more incentives to elect a president. No, this is not true. This is doubting people's responsibility, patriotism, and awareness of the national interest.

In any case, in this context as well, I would like to emphasize om the following since today the discussion began regarding the issue of Lebanon's central bank governor. We’ve discussed our position with our friends in the government. We are against the appointment. A caretaker government does not appoint.

That is why when the mandate of the director of the General Security ended, we did not go to appoint another director general knowing that according to sectarian quotas in Lebanon, this is an advanced and important Shiite post. We did not even ask if it was possible appointment. Never!

This is a caretaker government. There can be no appointment of general managers or a governor of the central bank. There can be no appointments or extensions. Addressing this matter is a separate discussion. I would like to say and affirm that we are with the caretaker government committing to its constitutional powers and not to transgressing them.

And if there are problems, we must look for solutions to these problems within the constitutional and legal powers. Everyone must bear their responsibilities and not leave or abandon them.

C- The final recommendation:

We, the Lebanese, must take advantage of the current climate in the region. All countries are beginning to benefit; all peoples in the region are beginning to benefit. God willing, the Yemen file is on the right track. God willing, all parties realize that ending the war, halting the fighting, establishing peace and security, and dealing with the crises in Yemen are a major human, moral, Islamic, and Arab interest.

The people, states, and governments of the region are all benefiting from the positive climate in the region. Why are there people in Lebanon who insist on enmity, on rivalry, on denial of reality, and on separation from reality so that Lebanon remains in crisis?

Let us go and open up. There are no absolute enmities. The only long-lasting and absolute enmity is with “Israel”. However, in all the Arab situations, problems occur and grow. After that they can be dealt with. Same applies to the Lebanese situation. 

We call on everyone to take advantage of the opportunity and all these positive things in the region right now. No one should stay behind a barricade and shoot alone, like some people you find on some islands – Second World War ended, and some people are still wearing helmets and carrying the rifle of love and sitting in the trenches. Unfortunately, we have politicians like this in Lebanon.

In any case, on his martyrdom anniversary, we pledge to our martyred leader Sayyed Mustafa Badreddine, his honorable family, and all his brothers and companions on his path that we will remain the trustees of the goals and the path. 

We will continue their path regardless of the sacrifices. We will safeguard their achievements and great hopes. Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. 

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